Goa AAP welcomes President with litany of complaints

Panaji, July 7 (IANS) In a sarcastic welcome to President of India Ram Nath Kovind, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Goa on Saturday issued a statement listing a litany of complaints including monsoon woes, mismanagement of the mining sector, and chided the President for promptly approving the disqualification of 20 of the party’s MLAs in Delhi.

“AAP welcomes the President of India Ram Nath Kovind on his first official visit to our beautiful state. We are sure your journey was not affected by the flooding all over Goa in the last couple of days as we could see extra labour at work sprucing up your route and we trust the government and traffic police were able to save you the turmoil and dangers that Goan commuters had to face,” AAP convenor Elvis Gomes said in the statement.

“We hear that you work very hard, even on holidays in non-emergency situations, as seen in the quick approval you gave on a Sunday to the disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs in Delhi, who were then reinstated by a court of law holding the act of the EC as against principles of justice,” the statement also said.

Urging the President to interact with ordinary citizens of Goa “to get an idea of the myriad issues that the common man faces”, AAP listed several issues for the President, who is on a two-day visit to the coastal state, beginning from Saturday.

“Unregulated and illegal mining has ravaged our eastern half where most of our water is sourced from and the government refuses to make amends despite numerous strict court judgements from as high as the Supreme Court of India,” AAP said.

“The rampant concretisation, unplanned and illegal developments, massive land filling, and hill cutting across Goa is creating numerous ecological hazards including the unprecedented floods that you may have witnessed or heard about during your journey,” the statement added.

It alleged that instead of working for the people, the state government was in cahoots with the “coal hubs, corporate cronies and casinos”.